Page 24

Frontiers October 2016 Issue

on the job, he anticipates he’ll become
a lot more emotional the closer the
spacecraft gets to completion.
“The work can be bolt to bolt and
rivet to rivet, but then it’s, ‘Wow, this
is working, this is so cool, I can’t wait
for it to launch,’ ” Allen said. “There’s
a different sense of pride when your
vehicle flies.”
Starliner is one of the programs
credited with re-energizing Kennedy
Space Center, which hasn’t offered
manned spaceflight since the space
shuttle program was completed in
2011. American astronauts have had to
travel to the ISS aboard Russian Soyuz
spacecraft. The idea that the U.S. will
transport humans to space again
has been a big motivator for Boeing
employees currently readying Starliner.
“It’s very important to return the
U.S.’ ability to launch people to space
on an American-built system—it’s a
major factor,” said Joel Andriola, a
nine-year Boeing technician. “Our
spacecraft has a lot of capabilities.”
Starliner will provide a better value
to the American taxpayer than the
$81 million per seat that NASA currently
pays Russia to fly to the space station
on a Soyuz, said Chris Ferguson,
Boeing director of crew and missions
operations and a former space
shuttle commander. Costs roughly
are determined by the proven reliability
of the space vehicle, the expense
of building a new service module
each time and the continued upkeep
of the crew module, such as replacing
the heat shield and parachutes
after each flight, he said.
Starliner will be unique for its
Photo: Software engineers Dave
Chever, left, and Gene Brotherton
are responsible for keeping the
computer systems operational in
the Boeing Mission Control Center
at Kennedy Space Center.
24 | BOEING FRONTIERS
ability to operate as a fully automated
spacecraft yet switch to manual
control if necessary, Ferguson added.
“It’s an interesting challenge,” he
said. “We’ve found a fine blend of
having a vehicle that can be piloted
by an astronaut and one very capable
of operating on its own. Astronauts
can be a backup-minded crowd—
they always want to maintain that
override capability.”
When the time comes to show
what it can do, Starliner will leave the
factory and travel nearly seven miles
(11 kilometers) aboard a transporter
to Space Launch Complex 41 at
Cape Canaveral Air Station, stopping
briefly to be mated to a United
Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket
at the Vertical Integration Facility.
For nearly two years, United